Hello World: Meet The First Third-Party IPhone App
A hacker by the name of Nightwatch has successfully compiled and launched the first third-party iPhone application. Nightwatch’s program is a simple “hello world” app and end-user apps are still a ways off, but this definitely opens the door for others to create applications that run on the iPhone.
Although the iPhone Dev Wiki is at pains to point out the site is a community effort, the progress report specifically says that Nightwatch has apparently pulled off the app on his/her own.
The “hello world” app was accomplished using the ARM/Mach-O Toolchain, which is also the main brains behind the “jailbreak” app which is a key element of some other hacks, such as the custom ringtone hack we detailed earlier this week.
Nightwatch and the iPhone Dev Wiki team have put together a pre-alpha ARM/Mach-O Toolchain for other hackers looking to compile applications.
And naturally it remains to be seen whether Apple will continue the hands-off approach to hacks that have characterized the company’s handling of AppleTV, the iPod and other products.
Note that I’ve omitted a direct link in keeping with the iPhone Dev Wiki’s requests to minimalize traffic to the site, but a Google search for “iPhone hello world” will give you some more information.
